quot;Keys And Stringsquot; is the highly-anticipated third solo CD from smooth jazz artist Tyrone Douglas. quot;Road Tripquot; and quot;New Agequot; are the previous CDs for this native of Huntsville, Alabama. He played bass on another recording, as part of well-known local jazz band Abstract. Tyrone has played guitar and keyboards for a number a years, which is featured on his solo CDs. quot;Keys And Stringsquot; has 11 tracks, and finds this multi-instrumentalist concentrating on the piano/keyboards type sound. The string parts come from his listening to symphonic music and guitar. He feels there's a certain classiness associated with this kind of music, considering keys and strings being included in most of the music heard in the U.S. Tyrone wanted to tap into this. Tyrone says quot;I used an upright bass sound from an old Alesis Nano Bass Module that I love. It has been used on all of my CDs in one way or another. It just works. All the piano sounds, acoustic and electronic, came from a Yamaha Motif-Rack, a great tone generator, and all others are from a Korg Triton-Rack and a micro x. I wanted to emulate the sounds of vintage instruments in a studio environment with space-sounding overtones. I hope I accomplished that.quot; The lineup for quot;Keys And Stringsquot; includes Tyrone's good friend Dana Fletcher (his guitar brother), with a band of his own. Tyrone has played in The Dana Fletcher Band off and on for several years now, and feels Dana is a fine guitarist. He is excited about having him on the CD. Good friend and fellow bandmate Walter Robinson is back for a third round on tenor saxophone. He is featured on the short track quot;Sax Keysquot;. Walter helped highlight the sound of keys. Tyrone says, quot;If you listen closely, you will notice the sound of him actually pressing the keys on his saxophone. I really enjoy the realism this lends to the music, as if you were right there with him while he plays.quot; Fellow bandmate LaRue Larry is also on board here, bringing along some nifty percussion skills. He's got his own solo project out soon. Tyrone's daughter, Lauren, makes her singing debut on quot;Keys And Stringsquot;. Naturally, the proud dad is thrilled, and feels she did a great job. Rounding out the lineup is special guest guitarist Rick Ward, who has played with the best of the best, and brings a style all his own. What Rick calls his quot;tic attackquot; guitar part is heard on the track quot;Thinking Of Youquot;. quot;A Queen's Themequot; is an original composition, which is very special to Tyrone. He wrote this for his mother-in-law, Queen Esther Orr, who passed away after a long illness, in 2009. Tyrone says quot;She was a strong dedicated lady, who always treated me with kindness. She encouraged me to do the right thing, as all her sisters do. I think she was a lover of symphonic music, and hope she would have liked this song, which was based on her quiet, mild, yet strong spirit. I found her spirit encouraging as did many othersquot;. Tyrone is on the move. He's developed his own style and sound, which is heard throughout quot;Keys And Stringsquot; - a CD well-worth checking out.
